Metagenomics allows for a new approach to studying biogeochemical processes in an environment, by giving an approximation of a community’s biogeochemical potential through the genes involved in a given process. Lipid biomarkers are well suited to this kind of approach because they are important for a number of biogeochemical questions and some have well studied biosynthetic pathways. One important class of lipid biomarkers, triterpenoids, were investigated in a new metagenomic sample that...